Wow, just think of all the benefits North Korea will enjoy from its robust space exploration program! As we all know, space directly leads to a country's wealth, not the other way round! We can see this for example with Russia, which basically beat the US in almost every space milestone. Russia is a rich country with a stable, effective government because of this early space lead.

I'm not a conspiracy theory nut or one of those America is t3h evil people but let me ask this.

The U.S. just launched (again) a completely classified mini space shuttle on a 100% top secret mission floating around earth doing god knows what. Most likely spying on the living fark out of every nation on the planet... Anyway, we're all cool and down with that.. Yo...

Meanwhile, Best Korea launched a satellite into orbit and OH MY farkING TERRORISTS GOD!! THEY ARE OUT OF CONTROL! IT COULD BE A NUKE NEXT!!! THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED!!

Seriously, we sound like rediculous assholes sometimes for the hypocritical bullshiat we're supposed to be outraged over.

Quantum Apostrophe:Wow, just think of all the benefits North Korea will enjoy from its robust space exploration program! As we all know, space directly leads to a country's wealth, not the other way round! We can see this for example with Russia, which basically beat the US in almost every space milestone. Russia is a rich country with a stable, effective government because of this early space lead.

styckx:I'm not a conspiracy theory nut or one of those America is t3h evil people but let me ask this.

The U.S. just launched (again) a completely classified mini space shuttle on a 100% top secret mission floating around earth doing god knows what. Most likely spying on the living fark out of every nation on the planet... Anyway, we're all cool and down with that.. Yo...

Meanwhile, Best Korea launched a satellite into orbit and OH MY farkING TERRORISTS GOD!! THEY ARE OUT OF CONTROL! IT COULD BE A NUKE NEXT!!! THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED!!

Seriously, we sound like rediculous assholes sometimes for the hypocritical bullshiat we're supposed to be outraged over.

I think the logic goes that for 50 years, the US has hadthe demonstrated ability to nuke its enemies from orbit and has refrained. We're less confident that some other nations will be so restrained.

NORAD detected the launch yesterday at 7:49pm Eastern Time. The rocket passed over Japan on its way to orbit. Its first stage splashed down into the Yellow Sea, while the second one fell on the Philippine Sea. Soon after that, the United States and most countries with space tracking capabilities confirmed the launch success: whatever it was carrying, it reached orbit. According to Kim Jong-Un's regime, it's a "weather satellite" on a polar orbit, going in the same direction as an Earth meridian.

Except it's really going any which way: talking to NBC News, US Officials are saying that the "space object" is tumbling out of control.

ORBITS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!

Seriously, if the thing is in a polar orbit, then it's staying in a polar orbit until drag slows it down. While it may be spinning around its center of gravity, or "tumbling out of control", it's not going to suddenly take a left at Albuquerque and go "any which way".

There was a thread for it yesterday, but short version: it's in a decent orbit, higher than the ISS and a bit below the Hubble telescope. If you want to worry about something, worry about when the next Soviet RORSAT core is going to come down.

NASA detected orbiting asteroid 4179 Toutatis yesterday at 7:49pm Eastern Time. The hunk of rock will come as close as 4.3 million miles from our planet, or about 18 times the distance between the Earth and the moon. The asteroid is nearly 3 miles long, and a collision could be devastating.

Worse yet, it's really going any which way: talking to NBC News, US Officials are saying that the asteroid is tumbling out of control.

Quantum Apostrophe:Wow, just think of all the benefits North Korea will enjoy from its robust space exploration program! As we all know, space directly leads to a country's wealth, not the other way round! We can see this for example with Russia, which basically beat the US in almost every space milestone. Russia is a rich country with a stable, effective government because of this early space lead.

Quantum Apostrophe:Wow, just think of all the benefits North Korea will enjoy from its robust space exploration program! As we all know, space directly leads to a country's wealth, not the other way round! We can see this for example with Russia, which basically beat the US in almost every space milestone. Russia is a rich country with a stable, effective government because of this early space lead.

I knew there was a reason I have you marked as a sad space exploration hater and here you prove my description rather well.

And now, the evilest communist dictatorship the planet has ever witnessed has a "satellite" which could be god only knows what circling your globe at 500 miles. We don't know what it is they shot up there and everybody acts like it is a joke. I'm not laughing.

Does Gravity ever "run out" - I mean, does entropy have any effect on gravity?

On a side note.... if time dilates for the traveler as they approach the speed of light, doesn't the fuel consumption go down, relative to the speed they are traveling? I assume the rate of fuel used to propel such a craft would remain "local" to the spacecraft, where time is slowing down to almost nothing as you approach the speed of light, right? This seems to oppose the idea that a greater amount of energy is required to generate velocity as you approach the speed of light - perhaps the two offset one another?

Maybe it's nonsense.... I'm too lazy to work out the math, but it seems like there must be some sort or reciprocal relationship going on there.

Theaetetus:Seriously, if the thing is in a polar orbit, then it's staying in a polar orbit until drag slows it down. While it may be spinning around its center of gravity, or "tumbling out of control", it's not going to suddenly take a left at Albuquerque and go "any which way".

Thank you. They forgot where the "kill rot" button is (it's 5 on the keypad BTW).

styckx:I'm not a conspiracy theory nut or one of those America is t3h evil people but let me ask this.

The U.S. just launched (again) a completely classified mini space shuttle on a 100% top secret mission floating around earth doing god knows what. Most likely spying on the living fark out of every nation on the planet... Anyway, we're all cool and down with that.. Yo...

Meanwhile, Best Korea launched a satellite into orbit and OH MY farkING TERRORISTS GOD!! THEY ARE OUT OF CONTROL! IT COULD BE A NUKE NEXT!!! THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED!!

Seriously, we sound like rediculous assholes sometimes for the hypocritical bullshiat we're supposed to be outraged over.

Well, at the very least, Best Korea now has a functioning long range rocket, and that is not a good thing.

impaler:Theaetetus: Seriously, if the thing is in a polar orbit, then it's staying in a polar orbit until drag slows it down. While it may be spinning around its center of gravity, or "tumbling out of control", it's not going to suddenly take a left at Albuquerque and go "any which way".

Thank you. They forgot where the "kill rot" button is (it's 5 on the keypad BTW).

I don't know if it's even intended not to tumble... From this article: Akin says that like a lot of small satellites, North Korea's probably doesn't have an attitude control system - either in the form of rocket thrusters or other devices that use either electromagnets or gyroscopes

Well you see I have my own God, Biki (Bee-key) the Bike God. We have a deal worked out involving doing good bike works, and earning up credits then cashing in those credits when something important is up. Anyways, Praise Biki... for gravity.

And now, the evilest communist dictatorship the planet has ever witnessed has a "satellite" which could be god only knows what circling your globe at 500 miles. We don't know what it is they shot up there and everybody acts like it is a joke. I'm not laughing.

I am

What, exactly, is your worst case scenario here?

There is a 200 lb satellite in orbit. This is about 25% the size of most nuclear weapons. Even granting that a pure fission weapon could be smaller than a multistage device, the odds of this being a nuke are just about nil.

The worst case would be a giant claymore mine that blew and threw crap into the orbitals, but even that is unlikely.

ProfessorOhki:Quantum Apostrophe: Wow, just think of all the benefits North Korea will enjoy from its robust space exploration program! As we all know, space directly leads to a country's wealth, not the other way round! We can see this for example with Russia, which basically beat the US in almost every space milestone. Russia is a rich country with a stable, effective government because of this early space lead.

Absolutely. Look at how much GPS damaged the economy.

It didn't damage the economy. What it damaged was the ability of people to navigate their ass around without an electronic crutch.

And no, my sarcasm detector isn't broken, I just wanted to make that point.

Invincible:I think the logic goes that for 50 years, the US has hadthe demonstrated ability to nuke its enemies from orbit and has refrained. We're less confident that some other nations will be so restrained.

True, this. Once North Korea quits talking about how they want to annihilate us, tries to feed its people before sending them after a my-penis-is-larger errand, and playing by the rules of the international community, we won't be all that upset when they send a rocket into the sky. Hell, if they demonstrate a couple of decades of consistently reputable behavior, we might not even look at such an event twice. And that should be their desired end-state. Then they can surprise the hell out of us, because we had lowered our guard and thought they were all cool and not nuts at all.

Quantum Apostrophe:Wow, just think of all the benefits North Korea will enjoy from its robust space exploration program! As we all know, space directly leads to a country's wealth, not the other way round! We can see this for example with Russia, which basically beat the US in almost every space milestone. Russia is a rich country with a stable, effective government because of this early space lead.

hold on a second there, forgetting...

first weather satellite?

first spy satellite?

first space rendezvous?

first men to the moon and back?

first men to walk on the moon?

both countries were highly motivated and the race had a lot of back-and-forth, some of the things the Soviets beat us to we did ourselves months or even weeks after, because we could! but where their acts were easy to follow, our grand finale has never been matched.

dittybopper:ProfessorOhki: Quantum Apostrophe: Wow, just think of all the benefits North Korea will enjoy from its robust space exploration program! As we all know, space directly leads to a country's wealth, not the other way round! We can see this for example with Russia, which basically beat the US in almost every space milestone. Russia is a rich country with a stable, effective government because of this early space lead.

Absolutely. Look at how much GPS damaged the economy.

It didn't damage the economy. What it damaged was the ability of people to navigate their ass around without an electronic crutch.

And no, my sarcasm detector isn't broken, I just wanted to make that point.

styckx:I'm not a conspiracy theory nut or one of those America is t3h evil people but let me ask this.

The U.S. just launched (again) a completely classified mini space shuttle on a 100% top secret mission floating around earth doing god knows what. Most likely spying on the living fark out of every nation on the planet... Anyway, we're all cool and down with that.. Yo...

Meanwhile, Best Korea launched a satellite into orbit and OH MY farkING TERRORISTS GOD!! THEY ARE OUT OF CONTROL! IT COULD BE A NUKE NEXT!!! THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED!!

Seriously, we sound like reidiculous assholes sometimes for the hypocritical bullshiat we're supposed to be outraged over.

I think you are missing the point. North korea is run by psychotic dictators. While a certain breed of young naive leftist likes to pretend USA's government is just as bad, you can take it from me that living in a communist dictatorship is much much worse than you probably imagine.